You can’t go wrong with the gift of liberty for Christmas

With the Thanksgiving holiday behind us our thoughts begin to turn toward the Christmas season and our attention directed toward buying that perfect gift for a friend or loved one — particularly the one most difficult to shop for. What better gift can you give than one that?

If you are looking for ideas about what to give, here are few:

Knowledge

James Madison once wrote:

“A popular Government, without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy; or, perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance: And a people who mean to be their own Governors, must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.”

So how can you give the gift of knowledge? I believe the best and only way to acquire knowledge is to read, read and read some more.

I read voraciously, but I’m selective in my reading. While I follow current events through some daily mainstream publications and by watching the occasional talking “news” reader shows, I don’t depend upon them for knowledge because all they feed you is the propaganda their masters want you to know.

Follow them too closely and you remain stuck in a vortex of conventional wisdom. Follow them too closely and you will forever be bound by normalcy bias — that state of mind that prevents one from considering the possibility of a crisis that is outside his or her normal experience.

But there are plenty of options that will help open a person’s mind.

Merry Christmas! And feel free to give your own last-minute gift suggestions in the comments below.